Re: Hope Falls

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 20:33

"Lucian was mine, and as soon as he found out the fact he has looked at me like I absolutely disgust him to be around." Devika laughed humourlessly. "We had become friends, before it and I don't allow myself to have those. Since the fire I would feel lucky to be looked at with that disgust, because now he no longer raises his eyes. I never even expected anything from him afterwards, but it didn't matter. The Zaretsky men are dangerous, they have no concept of keeping peoples hearts safe."

"She may not be going anywhere, and even if she is the world is absolutely not ending. No one is dying. People going onto other paths is part of growing up, and you have to accept it. One day the crown will be on your head, Aesira and you will have to make decisions that weigh on your heart much heavier. One day it will become vital for your brother to marry into some nobility or royal family elsewhere to secure allies or resources or... who knows what, but it will be strategic."

Cassius flinched, closing his eyes entirely as he lifted a pillow up and covered his face with it.

"I am happy to try until we cannot speak, as long as we try."

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 20:42

“If there’s any consolation with it i think he disgusts himself more than anything else. I’ve never seen a man so self loathing just because he cannot walk. Soldiers lose eyes, hands, legs. Have their faces melted off and they get on with it as they’d be on the street otherwise, and he just sits in that chair all melancholy. And then there is Conan. So in love with the Valkyrie that he can’t even just close his eyes and pretend I’m her in order to get a job done. Most men would laugh at him, wouldn’t they? What a pair of sorry souls…”

“He is the man. The bride comes to the groom. Cass is going nowhere and when the crown is on my head then neither will I. Nobody is going anywhere! We can’t let it happen! We can’t let Eden go, we can’t let mother go! We can’t let any of it happen!”

Dagmar swallowed her sobs, burying her face against his chest.

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 20:52

"The more you fight the more pain you will inflict on them when you fail. You need to learn to pick your battles, both of you. Had your father picked his battles the way he should have then neither of you would be feeling as you are now, and your mother would be better off too. Had your Aunt Karina done the correct thing then Eden and Ira, then the two of you would have been prepared for this day rather than it feeling so apocalyptic. Your father was too cowardly to let go and disguised it as romanticism, and your Aunt was too selfish to prepare and disguised it as grief."

"He makes me feel like such a... terrible person for saving him." Devika swallowed back the lump in her throat. "I think he can not look at me because he is furious at me. He can't look at me because if it wasn't for me he would be dead, and he wishes he was. I am not.. it is not in my blood to be the reason someone is hurting so deeply."

"Come on," Conan encouraged gently, shifting them both to the bed. Laying back on it so he was able to hold her properly, "Lets just lay for a little while. It has been too long since we've done that."

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 21:09

“You saved a life. You did the honourable thing. The right thing. If his legs still worked he wouldn’t be so fucking miserable.”

“So we should just not… not do anything? Let it happen? Let Eden go? Let my mother go?”

Dagmar nodded, curling into him completely like a small child.

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 21:21

"Where has doing the honourable thing gotten both of us in the end?"

"Find an argument, if you can and offer to present it. The Guardian's will listen, or they won't but there is little else you can do. You are a valkyrie too, Aesira, if you scream too loudly all that will happen is they will take you aswell."

Conan buried his face into her hair, and let out a deep breath.

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 21:30

“They can’t take me. I’m the heir. They wouldn’t dare destabilise the Kingdom. It’s why they wouldn’t kill my mother when she was pregnant.”

“I wish I had something to say to that… something hopeful.” Liara snorted, shaking her head. “You are right.”

Dagmar was silent for a long while as she tried to even out her breathing. “You should go check on Liara, see if she’s going to tell the Guardians what I did to her. That’ll seal everything if she is and I - I need to check on Cass, and Aesira.”

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 21:36

"You have a brother who is perfectly capable of wearing that crown. Do not be so naive, Aesira. This is the time to be mature, to be realistic."

"Magnus is with Cass and Aesira, Thea was... convincing Lucian to check in with Karina though I don't understand why convincing had to be done at all. Liara is with the healers, she will be fine. I will have the conversation with her later on but I am not ready to leave you yet."

"I shrouded myself in mystery because I knew the harm people could do, I became complacent and thought I had made connections. Then I almost lost my wings saving them, and the only person to mind me any attention since that day... has been you."

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 21:41

“You are the only healer whose only goal has not to be the one who finally proclaims me pregnant. The only healer who seems to care about my actual wellbeing rather than my womb…”

Dagmar sagged slightly in relief, leaning her head up and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

“They - they wouldn’t do that.” Aesira shook her head, the precious confidence gone as she looked over to her brother.

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 21:46

"Declaring children is my least favourite job, they are too delicate and too much emphasis is put on them." Devika grimaced. "Treating children even worse, they squirm and every move I make is analysed and questioned. It makes me want to rip my hair out."

Cassius took in a deep breath beneath the pillow which he had yet to move off of his face. Grateful it was put there before comments of thr crown had even been made.

Conan closed his eyes as he returned the kiss lightly. "You are my priority right now." He whispered.

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 22:04

“I’m sorry I lost my temper and hit her. I didn’t even know what was happening until they dragged me off… I should know better.”

Aesira swallowed thickly, falling silent as she rested her knees back on her chest. “We are royally fucked aren’t we?” She whispered.

“I’m under intense scrutiny all the time too. I know how awful it is.”

“And there. All done.” Indira hummed as she took her hands away from Kael’s head. She had sat herself on the end of Kael’s bed and positioned Kael in between her knees on the floor in front of her. Armed with metal clasps, a razor blade and a comb she had worked on his hair as the sun had fallen from the sky and the moon had rose. Morfydd having fallen asleep in the bed behind her rather a while ago. The styling itself having taken so long as she had been talking, doing and undoing his hair to allow the little Princess to try the methods herself. She’d twisted and braided and trimmed his hair a lot quicker once she’d fallen asleep, and had spent the last half an hour gently running her hands down Kael’s neck and shoulders to massage away any stiffness as the Prince had sat for so long. “All finished…”

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 23:19

"She betrayed us to the Guardian's and then didn't have the decency to wait, to let me be the one to break it to you. Do not apologise for a hit that she one hundred percent deserved."

"Yep." Cassius mumbled, voice muffled.

"It may feel that way right now, but that is the opposite of what is happening. There have been so many worse situations, even ones that the two of you have faced."

"Oh, I know you are. I know."

Kael had occasionally drifted off himself as she worked at his hair, though was always jostled by a tug or a touch. Currently he leant back into her touch, trying to quieten groans of content, "Oh I've forgotten how good you were at this."

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 23:36

“If you want we can put some pillows on the floor for you to lay on and we can carry on? I can feel the knots on your shoulders that were there long before I started this tonight?” Indira offered, placing her hands back on his skin to rub and knead at the muscles once more.

“She said you would frame it as scheming and she wanted me to know it wasn’t something she had planned. I don’t believe her… She has always been annoyed that it is me who shares your quarters, that you won’t sleep with her. She has always blamed me. This was the easiest way for her to get rid of me, wasn’t it?”

“But they are not. The men. They never are.”

“Easy for you to say when nothing you love is at risk… You managed to get them to promise that Zaria wouldn’t be taken…”

**BestNameEva** Mon 4 Mar - 23:48

"Believing The Guardian's are trustworthy would be a ridiculously stupid idea, so follow like Thea and I and refuse to do it, Aesira." Magnus whispered. "Zaria isn't your concern, but as I said, whatever happens to Eden it will not he a goodbye and you need to hold onto that so it doesn't destroy you."

"She betrayed us, that is for sure. She and I had a plan for how we would tackle this and she completely blindsided me, she - she has put everything at risk now. Made it impossible for us to support Karina too, whilst we sort through this mess."

"It is the way of the world," Devika ran a hand down Liara's arm with a furrowed brow, inspecting her skin for any other injuries. Gently resting her fingers over her hand and guide it up to rest against Liara's cheek - the glow reverberating through both of their hands to heal a cut beneath it.

"That sounds like a dream." Kael breathed. "Not on the floor though, on the bed?"

Phoenix Mon 4 Mar - 23:55

“Where do you want to put little Mor? On the couch? I don’t think she’ll wake, she’s not flinched at any movement I’ve made.”

“Mother said some Seers spent decades in training when they couldn’t grasp their gifts. Or if they were defiant. Eden… she could be gone that long.”

“I never thought she hated me to the point of having me removed all together…”

“Thank you, Devika.”

**BestNameEva** Tue 5 Mar - 0:02

"Any uh-" She swallowed, letting her hand drop. "You more than likely have a concussion, so if you want to go back to your rooms then me or one of the girls will be doing hourly checks on you. We have to be sure there isn't any damage to your brain, of course if you stay here it will be easier but I know it is less than ideal."

"Nor did I... I thought. I thought things were going really well."

"You know your friend much more than anyone else does, I imagine. Do you think it is in her nature to be defiant? Do you think she struggles with her gifts?"

"Mm, on the couch will do just fine. I'll give her one of my blankets, she'll still feel close then."

Phoenix Tue 5 Mar - 0:08

“I should go back to my rooms, the less time I spend in here the better. The less time I’m in here the less people will wonder and the less they’ll draw conclusions. The guards must be warned to stay quiet about what has happened. If word gets around that Dagmar struck me - no less go feral the way she did - the nobles will be demanding some sort of punishment. And that’s the last thing my marriage needs right now, Dagmar being hounded by the court because of me.”

“Not well enough for her to be satisfied.”

“Not defiant. But she will freeze… They may see it as defiance.”

“Get yourself up then. On the bed, clothes off.” Indira patted the space beside Mor before gently scooping the little girl effortlessly into her arms. Carrying her over to the couch before settling her down with a pillow under her head and quietly covering her with a blanket. Crouching down beside her for a few minutes to gently brush her hair with her hands to help soothe her back into a deep sleep.

**BestNameEva** Tue 5 Mar - 0:22

"There us too much to think about, too much to sort out and organise." Conan breathed, resting his head against hers as he tightened his arms around her. Aiming instead, for neutral ground, "My drink was too warm tonight, was yours? It is something we have to sort out. Since Samuel left with Kenna, Joseph's catering has been... lack lustre."

"I will have to walk you back then, and leave a kit in the room beside you for the girls to go to instead of having to bring their own each time. Seconds will matter if something goes wrong, my healing is only superficial."

"You could help her this week then by offering advice on how to avoid freezing, researching with her, getting her used to the things she may face. The more prepared she is, the better."

Kael bit back a groan at the soreness of his muscles as he pulled his top over his heads. Having finally filled out to his entirety, muscled back tight from his travels. Letting out a slow breath as he settled face first into the pillows and blankets of his bed.

Phoenix Tue 5 Mar - 0:28

“Superficial or not, it has relieved a lot of the pain, and I won’t look like a fool walking around.”

“He lasted longer than many thought he would… Lucian believed he’d be back by now.”

“Cass said Ira hates us… what if she hates us now too?”

Indira glanced over her shoulder, blinking herself back to her senses when she realised she had been looking a little too long as she moved over to the bed and climbed up beside him. Moving to straddle his waist, knees at either side of his hips as she wasted no time in rolling up the sleeves of her dress and getting started on his lower back. “Easy to tell when people have spent too much time in the saddle. It is like stone down here…” she murmured mostly to herself as she dug her palms in, forgoing gentleness for firmness which would provide him more relief in the long run.

**BestNameEva** Tue 5 Mar - 0:45

"The lack of pain, and the lack of injuries that are visible is not a pass for you to push yourself.' Devika warned firmly. "You are still on bed rest for at least twenty four hours, more if symptoms begin to surface."

"I can see why, the young man whom never had enough muscles in his arm to carry ten kilograms on a ship in the middle of the ocean was a ludacris idea. Well done to him, for proving everyone wrong, and to Kenna for seeing his potential."

"Ira will not hate you, and nor will Eden. They are scared, people'say things they don't mean all of the time when they are scared."

"It nearly was stone." Kael laughed, the sound muffled by fabric and groans of relief. "I- I met someone who claimed to be able to use petrification and they had a very nice display of statues to go along with that claim."

Phoenix Tue 5 Mar - 0:51

“Bed rest? Devika… I cannot do bed rest. We have guests.”

“Potential? Or just someone willing to fill the hole apparently left by the Fae Prince? Lucian and Kari were all but convinced she was madly in love with him and he didn’t return the interest so she just took the next boy who showed her attention.”

“How long was Thea trained for? She is defiant. She is rude and arrogant…” Aesira was still staring at the wall, no effort to mind her tongue, though it was clear she was not insulting Thea, but rather matching up personalities to timelines in her head. “Karina says she was there for not too long before she came here…”

“I don’t think I could fix actual stone, so it is good for you that you didn’t piss that person off and have them try anything.” Indira laughed softly, using the heel of her palm to dig in to the small of his back, brows furrowed and biting her lip as she put all her strength behind the movements.

**BestNameEva** Tue 5 Mar - 1:00

"Eden is not rude nor arrogant, Eden is not Thea, nor is she Karina. Eden is her own person, and we need to talk about her like such. She and Cassius both have Emmett's attitude, the ability to suck it up and just get on with it if they need to, so they will, she will. She won't be there for long."

Kael's inward breath whistled through grated teeth, trying not to flinch away from her as his fingers dug into the covers of the bed. "I think you would get pretty close."

"Our chef us sure that his son was smitten with her, at least. It is a good experience for him, anyway and at the very least hopefully fun for her."

"Your husband can care for your guests, you have taken ill because you are with child. A child you will elude to, but never announce properly, a child you will lose before you ever risk showing and a child whose lose will mean you need to leave here for a few weeks to get a damn break."

Phoenix Tue 5 Mar - 1:08

Liara was quiet as she listened, moving to take Devika’s hand when she had finished. “Thank you, for not telling anyone anything. For being willing to go along with such a lie for me… thank you.”

“The freedom to just take off like that… I envy them.”

“I don’t remember enough about Emmett to tell if you’re right so I guess I’ll have to take your word on that…”

“I am good, yes, but I do not know if I am good enough to mould stone back into a man.” Indira chuckled, beginning to work her way up the rest of his back. Starting featherlight before working her way into the muscles, going deep enough to cause tenderness even after she had moved on from the area.

**BestNameEva** Tue 5 Mar - 1:20

"'Emmett was the most infuriating man I ever had the displeasure of meeting at first, until we were in the midst of war and Thea had been taken from me once again. Until I was beginning to become wreckless in my decisions and some arrogant, strategy minded angel had the audacity to force me to sit down and properly look at what was happening. He helped me think clear enough to stratgeise, whilst empathising for his own children and for his own royal family. I never expected to like him, never expected that friendship."

"If this does not undo, if you are forced to leave then I want you to enjoy it." Conan whispered. "It has been so long since you have had sisters, since you could see the world again. If your ripped away from us then make sure you write, make sure you enjoy it."

"The men want us all to turn against each other, it is how they win. If they use children or lack of them as weapons against us then we have every right to do the same to them."

"Of course you are. An Eastern goddess."

Phoenix Tue 5 Mar - 1:28

“How could I ever enjoy myself knowing I have left my children behind, left you behind? Even now I would do it all again Conan. For Aesira. For Cassius. For you. I cannot move on from that, move on from you all. Enjoying being away when it wasn’t a choice is impossible. And if they make me go I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting to come back to you.”

"I hope you take the opportunity to use this to gain some foothold over your fellow healers then. If you are to lie for me I hope you will find a way to benefit from it. You too can allude I am with child and it is you I trusted to check, to know even before the King, only you I wish to see. Command more respect from them all for it.”

“He threatened to expose my parents when they started their relationship, my father was surprised they ended up friends too.”

“Princess.” Indira corrected with a proper laugh then, shaking her head. “And even that holds no weight anymore. I am simply at your service now Prince Kael, your personal masseuse.” She hummed as she continued to work her way up his torso, fingertips lingering for a few seconds too long every now and then.

**BestNameEva** Tue 5 Mar - 1:40

"What will I gain from something like that? I don't desire the attention it would bring." Devika whispered. "I like the quiet among angels, around witches I feel like a different person but it is less glamourous then you would imagine."

"Your father and Emmett were always complex, when he passed they were still on bad terms which is why he is a faux paus around him for when I am here. General Aster done very well at getting under the skin though, you never expected to be friends with him, you never got given the choice."

"Can't both be true st the same time? Enjoy it, and fight to come back..."

"G- Godess." Kael emphasised with a contended groan. "Godess is much, much more fitting. Much more than staff, the complete opposite to staff."

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